So, like thePrivateer, I also had the idea to write a short story. This takes place at the early 2300's. This post is only Chapter 1 and the prologue.

Transcendence

Heretic

Prologue

Some say that the ancient humans once feared extinction. That they believed that disease, or famine, or some other natural disaster would kill them off. None ever took a moment to think that they might, by some strange fluke of fate, survive. But they had. Despite humanities best efforts, they found themselves at the beginning of the 24th century alive. Humans touched every star, and walk among the cosmos. Even the weakest and most dismal of man could live and see the Universe closely. The concept of bounds became alien to Humans. The humans believed they held the universe in their hands. They felt they could do anything. But, like all things, both good and bad, it had to end.

Captain Raul stood on the bridge of the Commonwealth Expansionary Vessel C.E.S. Heretic. After discovering the stargate in system HD 44594, the vessel had entered System 932332. The crew had begun calling it the Heretic System, after the vessel they rode on. They powered toward the last planet in the system, after surveying the others.
They were traveling through one of the nebulae again, purplish clouds swirling past their canopy.

"E.T.A. Ensign." asked the Captain, his gaze not leaving the clouds. It was said one could go mad staring into them, but Raul believed that to be fiction.

"1500 hours, sir." Replied the nervous ensign.

"Boost engine power 18 percent. Ensign?" Raul replied, this time turning to face the ensign.

"1400 hours, sir." Was the reply.

"Excellent. Hold course and speed steady." Said the captain as he exited the bridge.

'What were they thinking' thought the Captain as he walked through the passageway. 'They they sent us into the middle of nowhere, light-years away from help, with no sensors, and the long chain of Stargates just had to end somewhere. Whoever built them, they couldn't go on forever. And they're not going to be happy some meddlers are using their toys.'

His communicator beeped, and upon his voice command the nervous ensign's voice squeaked through. He only caught every few words, thanks to the nebula, but he could hear "come" and "bridge".

Turning abruptly, Raul raced back up the corridor, glad that he had kept up his regular trips to the gym, despite his age. Reaching the bridge, the captain saw that everyone was at their stations, but tapped rapidly at buttons on their boards.

"Status report." snapped the captain, turning to the scanner operator.

The navigator answered, "We were holding course, sir, and all of the sudden we were on the other side of the system."

"There seems to be an event horizon around the system, which creates a spacial anomaly, similar to that created by the stargates. It seems impossible, but then, so does traveling across space through a gate."

"Is there any gap or opening?"

"No, sir"

"Can we breach it?"

"Not that I can see."

"Run a stations scan. There must be some sort of station creating the horizon."

"Yes, sir."

Three hours later, the scan was completed. The lieutenant, however, seemed to be too confused to speak.

"Speak ensign." snapped Raul, more harshly then intended, but it seemed to get the lieutenant's attention.

"There is a ring of structures, wrapped around the star. Vast amounts of energy are pouring out of that sun. Off to one side is a station, same design roots but a different structure. Those stations, it's like nothing I've seen before. They appear to be made of a kind of carbon-silicon composite and, something else, it doesn't identify as a known element. It also appears to have a chemical structure like a crystal, but it's far more complicated than anything humans have ever conceived. Sir." the lieutenant said, barely concealing his confusion. "Those stations were built by extra-terrestrials thousands, maybe millions of years more advanced than humans."

The lieutenant checked back at his console for a moment, then turned back. "The computer is telling me that the design of the stations and the materials match that of the Iocrym, some ships that traveled through Commonwealth Space 36 years ago, around the turn of the century. They gave great knowledge about science. They were welcoming, even encouraging us to explore. Now they imprison us. I don't understand it."

The captain did, in fact, remember it. He had been just 8 years old at the time, but he remembered, watching on a view screen as the crystal ships had flown around the station. He had hoped they would return, and had given up hope.

"Well," said the captain. "Let's hope they decide we're children rather than insects."

The comms remained silent as the Heretic approached the mysterious crystal station, the one outside the ring. It remain silent as they alternated the first 8 prime numbers in a sequence on every bandwidth. Even when they docked, it was silent. As they boarding crews put on their vac-suits, Raul decided to accompany them.

Eight hours later, they returned with no more than a map and information that the room had breathable atmosphere. It was deserted. There was no evidence that it had ever been inhabited.

After returning to the ship, Raul decided that if he were to travel forward, they would have destroy the crystal structure. They could study the debris if they wished later.

"Lock all weapons. Full power." said the captain, staring at the view screen. "Fire."

Chapter I:
The Call

Light-years away, near the beginning of the chain of stargates, Eridan jolted awake. He had had the same dream. He had seen doctors, physicians, and priests. They all gave different advice. The doctors told him to get more sleep. Like that was likely, with his recurring dream. It was like saying the best solution for a burn is to stick it in a fusion engine. The physicians had told him to take various pills. That had had no effect at all. And of course, the priests told him to trust Domina. Always trust Domina. Right.

Eridan rolled from his bed, attempting not to wake Imrea, his wife. She, at least, could appreciate the three hours before their work shift began. Eridan walked through the Sonic shower, then got dressed. He knew he couldn't get back to sleep. He never could. Feeling slightly rejuvenated, he moved to the kitchen area of their quarters. They were small, uniform, and dull, but functional. He placed in his order, a high-caf coffee. He grabbed the cup and moved towards the door.

As he walked past the view port, he thought he saw a face, just for a moment, as if suspended by the stars. He shook his head, knowing it had to be a hallucination due to his lack of sleep. Taking another sip of his drink, he hurried to the view port, troubled nonetheless.

He walked out into the station, blinking at the brightness. In a space station, there really was no such thing as 'night' or 'day' only 'alpha shift' and 'beta shift' or 'gamma shift'.

Stretching, he began walking down the long corridor to the mess hall. While the crew's quarters were more than sufficient to create the meals, many still preferred company. It was also a good place to learn what was happening in the world. Everyone knew that a possibly bribed guard could offer way better information than the news companies. As he neared the mess hall, he realized that everyone was either sleeping or on shift; there would be no news for a long while.

Taking a deep breath, Eridan sat at a table, and put his head down, preparing to wait out the shifts. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

The dream came to him while he slept, once again, exactly how he had seen it a dozen times before. He felt he was flying, shooting through the cosmos at near the speed of light. Images bombarded him; he saw stargates whirling past as he shot through them. Ships rose up against him and he just willed them to be gone and they were annihilated by a fearsome bluish wave. Then he reached a wall of fire passing through human space. The worlds were flooded with fire. It killed hundreds, thousands, millions. Then he saw another man, who flew from a station not unlike the one Eridan had lived on, long ago, before he had flown. The man held back the wave, and pushed it back. Worlds were rejuvenated, lives regained. Then the man seemed to weaken, and called out to him, "Why didn't you help me? Why did you not prepare the way?" Then the man vanishes into the cloud of fire. The wave advances, and all of human space is obliterated. Imrea burns, and her tortured screams echo through the cosmos, then the wave reaches Eridan.

Eridan jolted awake, unaware that he had been asleep. He shook himself awake, and saw the first of his shift filtering into the mess hall. He sat up, shaking visibly. Before anyone had the chance to sit down next to him, he walked to the door, and left.

Eridan didn't know where he was going. All he knew was he was walking. He walked, barely aware that his legs were moving. After what seemed like seconds but was probably several minutes, Eridan arrived at a door. He opened it, and found himself in the docking bay, one of several on the station. Suddenly regaining composure, Eridan left the station, and hurried to his shift, wondering why he had gone to the ship purchase docking bay. Where was he going? He had a job, a family.

The last thing he needed was an adventure. After all, he wasn't the young, energetic fellow he had once been.

Arriving at his duty station, sat in his chair, and began surveying the reports of the shipyards. Once again, he was just one in a hundred men, all sitting in offices, happy to stay where they were.

"Look. I don't care how much they protest! Those miners are mining in a charted Commonwealth Asteroid Field. By law they must either vacate their base or be destroyed." Shouted Eridan's superior, a vein in his neck visibly bulging. The report had come in shortly after his shift had started. A group of miners had chosen to set up base in an asteroid field. Technically, it belonged to the Commonwealth Military, but such matters had never been enforced. In the end, they always sold their metal to the Government, who gave it to the military. But Jyren, Eridan's superior, had apparently had a bad night. He had been forcing the issue for nearly three hours now, and demanded a flight of Centurions, Commonwealth's newest and most powerful space-superiority gunship, go blow up their station. Personally, Eridan had no problem with this. They were just sitting there, illegally, and needed to be taught a lesson. The crew could scuttle back to their mining guild and collect compensation. In the future, the guild would be careful where they put their stations.

"I'm sorry, sir" Eridan said, thinking fast. "I support your decision, I do. But flights have to be cleared by the Security Supervisor. I can place a request but Centurions are needed elsewhere. The mining station doesn't have any weapons; our scans can show that. Their armor is minimal, and crew complement is almost none. A single ship could take care of it."

Jyren's neck regained its previous thickness. He smiled. Eridan hated that smile. It always meant the Jyren had some new way to make someone suffer. And he was looking ate Eridan. "Okay, fine. If you think that a single ship can take care of it, take my old Ronin for a spin, and blow up their station." He laughed again, then, regaining his composure again, spurted out, "And if you manage to make it," before collapsing into more laughing. "I'll let you keep it!" At this he was laughing so hard, he fell onto the ground.

Eridan had no desire to blow up the station himself, but he was so infuriated by Jyren that he stood up and left, stopping only to get the security key-card for the old ship. Eridan knew that the Ronin, in capable hands, could easily destroy the station. The problem was, that those mining stations tended to have Borer-Class mining ships, which would, of course, have mining lasers. In capable hands, no problem. Eridan, himself, had never piloted anything bigger than a space hopper. He was not capable hands.

Eridan walked through the station, reviewing what he knew about how to pilot the Ronins. Ronin ships had been used by the Commonwealth in the Syrtian war, and had had massive success. The war had been over 90 years before, however, and those ships weren't new at the time.

Eridan checked the dock number on the docking stamp on the key-card. After he arrived, he was shocked to see it was the same docking port as he had wandered to before his shift. Shaking his head, he stepped through the door. The Ronin was sitting right where it should be. Seeing it brought a sense of apprehension to Eridan. He was about to fight for his life, to defend his pride. He was about to turn back, when he suddenly felt his legs moving towards the ship. Before he knew it, he was in the cockpit.

The cockpit was in perfect condition; every surface was polished and smooth, buttons were clearly labeled, and even the chair in front of the piloting board was newly covered. Eridan hoped that the rest of the ship, especially the weapons and shields, were in just as good condition. Sitting down, He prepared to launch.

Seems like it will be a bit longer than mine, and sounds a good bit more interesting too. >.>

Good work, but if I can make one comment -- when you are typing and you see the red wavy line under words...right click the word and choose an autocorrect option. Spelling doesn't matter in usual posts, but when you are doing a story, it pays to make things read correctly.

Other than that, it sounds fantastic! I can't wait for the next installment!

Drako Slyith wrote:Yeah, sorry. It was late at night and I was tired. Anyway, I added some more to chapter I. It seemed rather short, and what I was going to have in chapter II fit better into chapter I.

Chapter I ends better now, more like it should have. Good characters, good plot - can't wait to read more!

"Dash_Merc - George is a genius, in that he created this game engine that is infinitely extendable"
"<@sheepluva>Good night everybody, may the source be with you." <-- FOSG dev
"You only need THREE tools in life - WD-40 to make things go, Duct Tape to make things stop And C-4 to make things go away"

Drako Slyith wrote:I know. This is just before that. If you look it says

I wrote:beginning of the 24th century

This takes place just before they come (was planning to have that actually in the epilogue, but spoilers I guess)
This is about the chain of events that triggers their coming to St. Kats.

but didn't they go to STK and after they leave make the QZ barrier well the humans are only just starting out is space?

"Dash_Merc - George is a genius, in that he created this game engine that is infinitely extendable"
"<@sheepluva>Good night everybody, may the source be with you." <-- FOSG dev
"You only need THREE tools in life - WD-40 to make things go, Duct Tape to make things stop And C-4 to make things go away"

sdw195 wrote:but didn't they go to STK and after they leave make the QZ barrier well the humans are only just starting out is space?

I don't think that George had clarified it. We know that they already have a plan in place to sterilize the QZ. They say the problem arose right when the humans began their exploration of space. Once you get a problem, step one is to stop it from spreading. I.E. set up an event horizon that keeps the problem from infecting the rest of the Galaxy. I think that what could be classified as human's beginning of exploration is when the people in orbit of Earth realized they had not much in common as people on Earth and inhabited St. Kats. In which case, it makes sense they went to the capital of the space-faring capital, once they know their barrier might start to be contested. They go to explain it and try to prevent a problem.

I have to say the hardest problem writing a book from a game is the mine-field that is cannon.

Play in over 100 systems in a network. Play the 2011 Mod Of the Year
and the highest rated mod on Xelerus, The Network.
Play the July Mod of the Month, Fellow Pilgrims!
Play My other mods as well

(Drako Slyith)* I am a person
(Eliza chatbot)> Do you believe it is normal to be a person?

A few decades later, Humans found that the entire volume of Human Space had been quarantined. Today we know that the Iocrym guard all stargates leading out into the rest of the Galaxy. The only explanation that the Iocrym will give is that humans have been quarantined until further notice because of an unspecified threat.

it took a few decades from the Iocrym leaving stk to the Humans arriving in Heretic for the first time and finding the QZ barrier

"Dash_Merc - George is a genius, in that he created this game engine that is infinitely extendable"
"<@sheepluva>Good night everybody, may the source be with you." <-- FOSG dev
"You only need THREE tools in life - WD-40 to make things go, Duct Tape to make things stop And C-4 to make things go away"

Back in his office, Jyren sat down at his desk, considering how best to mock that Eridir or Erien or whatever the pest's name was. He silently congratulated himself for the brilliance of his plan. He had come up with on the spot too. It was as if it had just come to him. It was brilliant alright. He had just polished that ship, and soon the pest would return, chickening out of a good fight. The ship could easily win. There was almost no chance that he would succeed. After all, with brand new enhanced dual laser cannons, it could win easily. All the pest had to do was fight, which he wouldn't. But if he did... The glass suddenly dropped from Jyren's hand. In all his time working with the pest, he had never once turned back from a fight. Why had he told him he could keep the ship if he won? He would either win, and keep the ship, or be destroyed, and take the ship with him. Either way, the ship was gone. He had spent over 20,000 credits just last week retrofitting the weapons and shields. What had gotten into him? He knew he would never offer his ship if he was thinking right. It was as if the thought had been planted in his head...

Eridan cleared the docking port, still trying unsuccessfully to force himself back to the station. It didn't work, and soon he got the image of the enemy station on the scanner. As he watched the status screen, two blips appeared from the mixture of scanner-deadening asteroids.

Borer-class mining ships were lightly armored, but they had powerful lasers necessary to destroy and mine metallic asteroids. The ships streaked towards Eridan. He had expected them to at least comm him before coming in to attack. He armed his forward lasers. On his display, he noticed that they were routed through a laser collimator, and the lasers were focused to nearly double their original intensity. His shield, he noticed, were likewise enhanced. Taking a deep breath, Eridan moved his aiming reticule on one of the ships, and pulled the trigger. To his great surprise, he saw the tell-tale burst of light of a shield hit.

It was only after they borers had passed him and he was turning around for another shot at him that he realized that they shouldn't have shields. Borers didn't have shields. Something was wrong. He found the button for the targeting computer. The readout from the computer said that it was a Borer II-Class mining vessel. They were the newest design from the Mining Guild, up for sale to the highest bidder.

The ships had completed their turn now, but Eridan was already streaking back towards them. This time, he pressed the trigger and held it in. Lasers streaked through space, and he saw on his tactical readout one of the Borers had sustained 93 percent dameage. Then the borers fired back long, streaking lasers slamming into his shields. Checking his damage readout, he saw his shields were down to 29 percent. Turning as fast as the ship could, Eridan streaked back towards the borers, firing as he went.

A feeling suddenly took control of Eridan. He stopped thinking of what he should do. His shots suddenly began to hit their marks. His hands twitched, barely controlled by him. The Ronin swerved away, dodging both lasers at once. Bringing his lasers back onto the ships, he destroyed first one, then the other. The ships vanished into expanding spheres of high energy gas. Ore in their holds began bouncing against his shields. Then a body hit. The battle fury subsided.

Struggling not to be sick, Eridan piloted the ships back on course to the station. He locked weapons, and opened fire. Watching on tactical, he stopped firing once the station reached 95 percent damage on the facing armor section. Once he saw a few dozen escape pods shoot off the station, he resumed fire, until he saw the plumes of escaping gasses. He continued firing, and soon his laser hit the main reactor, and several sections of the station were blasted into deep space.

With a sick desire to see his work, he piloted into the ruined cargo hold. He put on a vac suit he found in a locker, and exited his ship. He walked out into the hold. There were bodies everywhere. Despite his effort to allow them to escape, they were dead. Bile rose in his throat, and he forced it back down. Taking another look around, he noticed that there were massive piles of ore piled around the room. In one corner, there was a mining laser. Eridan started towards it, but he saw the massive barrel was bent and the blast chamber ruptured.

Heading back to his ship, he saw that his cargo hold had a grappler arm, designed to grab heavy objects and bring it on board. Keying in the command, the arm pulled in the piles of ore. He assumed the military would want the ore. He returned to his ship, and launched back into space.

He was halfway back to the his station, but then a feeling grabbed him. He suddenly felt very tired. Without knowing it, he stopped his ship in orbit of a nearby moon, and fell asleep in the captain's chair.

He was floating. Floating, and flying. It was like his dreams he had had, but somehow different. He was flying through space, and soon the familiar wave of fire spread from the end of human space. He realized that he had to stop it. He flew forward, and rather than pushing it back, he punched a hole strait through it. Rather than a wave, he saw it was a solid sphere of fire. What could have been seconds or centuries later, the familiar man rose from a station. This time, however, instead of pushing the wave back, he flew through the hole Eridan had punched, and flew strait to Eridan. Flying together, they reached the core. Turning to Eridan, the man said, "Now it's my turn. Thank you, friend." And he flew to the core, and vanished from sight.

Eridan awoke with a start. After a moment of confusion, he remembered where he was. He felt a deep calling, as if he was destined to travel far away. Despite his deep regrets, he found that he no longer had the desire to return home. He forced that though out of his head. He had a wife, and a baby boy on the way. They needed him. He couldn't just go.

The thought forced its way back into his head. He felt the unquenchable urge to move forward. Fighting himself with all his will power, he forced his hands to plot the coordinates of his station. His wife was waiting there for him. They could live together happily.

The thought came back to him, stronger than before, the unstoppable urge to leave. Nothing he could do could stop his hands from plotting a course for the stargate.

Thoughts of logic forced its way back into his head. He saw that the visions had certainly meant he was needed elsewhere. This was his one chance to make his life something to be remembered. He just had to go. With that, he decided to go.

He loved his wife, but he realized that he had to travel on towards the center of the galaxy. The thought came to him, as if not his own. Checking his map, he saw the nearest stargate, and piloted through. His movement triggered the automatic signal burst, set up to surround the stargate, and he saw a flash of light. When it resolved, he was in a new system. The universe was before him. All he had to do was step forward.

"Dash_Merc - George is a genius, in that he created this game engine that is infinitely extendable"
"<@sheepluva>Good night everybody, may the source be with you." <-- FOSG dev
"You only need THREE tools in life - WD-40 to make things go, Duct Tape to make things stop And C-4 to make things go away"

"Dash_Merc - George is a genius, in that he created this game engine that is infinitely extendable"
"<@sheepluva>Good night everybody, may the source be with you." <-- FOSG dev
"You only need THREE tools in life - WD-40 to make things go, Duct Tape to make things stop And C-4 to make things go away"